


New Friends and New Mothers

by HeidiJames28



Series: We're a Family First and Cricketers Second [16]
Category: Cricket RPF
Genre: Cute, Family Bonding, Fluff, M/M, Touch-Starved
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-14
Updated: 2020-11-14
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:01:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27547258
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HeidiJames28/pseuds/HeidiJames28
Summary: A little drabble about Sammy bonding with Ollie before meeting Bilbo and calling him mama for the first time.
Relationships: Sam Billings & Sam Curran, Sam Curran & Ollie Pope, Sam Curran & Tom Curran
Series: We're a Family First and Cricketers Second [16]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2103888
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5





	New Friends and New Mothers

**Author's Note:**

> A lot of the snippets with Ollie and Sammy come from incorrect quotes Tumblr (both the cricket and F1 tags) so thank you for those.

Wringing his fingers tightly, a young blonde boy stood at the edge of a group of cricketers. He looked anxious and afraid, his downcast eyes occasionally flicking around to make sure no one came too close to him. 

"Hey, Sammy-boy," a friendly cheery voice called. The young blond, Sammy, looked up to see Ollie running over to him. Ollie raised an arm to fling around Sammy's shoulder but the blond stepped out of the way before he could make contact. "How was your weekend?" 

"Fine," Sam responded, shifting on his feet and glancing over at an older cricketer in panic and hopelessness. "I just stayed in and watched some films." 

"Have you been to see that new Disney film yet, I know you like them?" Ollie pushed on, ignoring Sam's reluctance to start a conversation. Sam looked up at him with panic and fear in his eyes but Ollie was quick to reassure him. "I'm not taking the mick, I promise. I just heard you talking to TC about it the other week so I was wondering if you'd gone?" 

"I'm not really a fan of the cinema," Sammy responded, "there's a lot of people and I'm not a big fan of that." Sammy's cheeks flushed as he winced, expecting to be laughed at but when Ollie made no noise he looked up at him in confusion. The ginger was simply smiling widely at him, a soft look in his eyes. 

"I get you. People can be scary." Ollie made sure to keep any hint of amusement or judgement out of his voice. This was the longest conversation he'd ever had with the blond and he didn't want to accidentally ruin it. "I know it comes out on Sky this weekend and I've got a massive TV if you wanna come and watch it at mine?" Sammy tilted his head, reading the ginger's expression before glancing over at an older boy who'd been listening in. 

"He'd love to," Tom Curran announced, walking over to the group and ruffling Sammy's hair, "I'll drop him off on Saturday?" 

"Sounds perfect." Ollie was overjoyed, he'd been trying to make friends with Sammy since he'd joined the team and today was the first breakthrough.

\--

"Hey, Sammy," Ollie greeted, smiling happily at Sammy a couple of weeks later, "I was thinking about feeding the ducks soon if you want to join. There are ducklings at the moment." 

Sammy beamed at him, his smile still slightly anxious but his eyes radiated pure happiness. "I love feeding the ducks. I used to do it all the time when I was little. Want to go after training?" 

"It's a plan," the ginger agreed, smiling at Sammy as the pair walked onto the training field. Sammy shifted slightly, brushing his arm against Ollie's for a single moment before pulling away and blushing. Ollie smiled slightly, his heart warm as Sammy slowly warmed up to him. 

\--

Sammy was sitting on the grass, aggressively sucking on a juice box. He was pouting, his arms crossed as Tom walked away laughing. "You look stressed, Samwise," Ollie teased, walking over, "what's wrong?" 

"TC is doing the stupid older-brother thing," Sammy complained, "he keeps laughing at me so I'm drinking to forget my troubles." 

"Sammy, that's a Caprisun," Ollie pointed out, laughing warmly and slumping down next to Sam on the floor. "Do you want a lollipop to make you feel better?" Ollie asked, pulling a strawberry lollipop out of his pocket and handing it to the pouting child. 

\--

"No Ollie," Sammy whined as they walked through the park, "I don't want to play scrabble again." 

Ollie pouted, turning to face Sammy and fluttering his eyelashes happily. "Why not? You love boardgame nights?" 

"No," Sammy corrected, "you love boardgame nights and I put up with them. Scrabble is not fun when I play words like dog and you play maximize. It's just me being beaten for three hours." 

"How about we watch movies and eat ice-cream then," Ollie proposed, "I'll even paint your nails for you, I learnt how to do the little flowers." 

"You learnt how to do flowers," Sammy stuttered out, "for me. That's so nice." 

"You deserve it, munchkin." 

"I am only an inch shorter than you." 

"An inch makes all the difference," Ollie deadpanned causing Sammy to burst out laughing. Ollie rolled his eyes sighing, "you are such a child." 

\--

"I can't deal with all this stress," Sammy whined after being told he was opening the bowling in a four-day county match, "it's bad for the baby." 

"What baby?" Ollie shouted, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion. He let Sammy cuddle up next to him and ran a hand through his hair softly. 

"Me," Sammy responded, causing Ollie to roll his eyes and sigh heavily.

\--

"Do you really think it's a good idea to snip Jason's socks?" Ollie asked, eyeing the scissors in Sammy's hand. "Are you even old enough to hold scissors?" 

"I don't think it's a good idea," Sammy responded, "and probably not."

"Oh that's good, I'd be concerned if you did."

"We're still doing it though, right?" Sammy checked, smiling innocently and snipping the scissors through the air, a large smile on his face. 

"Of course we are," Ollie replied, "hand me the scissors." 

\--

Sammy was crying, tugging his hair tightly with one hand and raking his nails along the tender skin of his thigh with the other. He was rocking in an attempt to soothe himself, tucked into the corner of the dressing room. "Hey bumblebee," Ollie cooed, stepping into the room and kneeling in front of the crying ball. Ollie reached out to stroke Sammy's hair but stopped himself when the blond flinched back harshly. "Alright, no touching, I can do that." 

Ollie started humming quietly under his breath, distracting Sammy until his crying slowed down and he finally let go of his hair. "Do you wanna explain what happened?" 

"Jason tried to touch me," Sammy spoke through laboured breaths, his right hand flapping in the air and his left moving to grab onto Ollie's shoulder. "He just touched my back but I wasn't expecting it." 

"That's alright," Ollie soothed, "he won't do it again. Do you want a hug?" Ollie raised his arm in an invitation, smiling softly when Sammy burrowed into his side. "I was watching a show last night about whales and I learnt some really cool things." Ollie blabbered for hours, talking as Sammy fell asleep curled next to him and continuing until the groundstaff locked everything down. The floor was uncomfortable and his back would really hate him in the morning but Sammy was more important than any of that. 

* * * * 

"Sammy," Ollie called out, motioning for the blonde to come and sit down next to him. Sammy smiled, resting his head on Ollie's shoulder and feeling TC's warm eyes watching him. "Sam Billings has come to see Jase and they've been flirting again. I'm telling you they're together." 

"You think everyone is together," Sammy pointed out, laughing slightly, "the other day you genuinely tried to convince me that Mark Wood, Ben Stokes, and Eoin Morgan were all together at the same time." 

"Yes, Sammy. Polygamy is a thing," Ollie frowned, jabbing his fingers lightly into Sammy's side and watching him break out in pearls of laughter. 

"I know but I just don't think you're being realistic," Sammy responded, sending the ginger a confused look and rolling his eyes sarcastically. 

"Look at them," Ollie urged, nodding his head at Jason and Sam who were standing very close together, their arms thrown around each other and soft smiles gracing their lips. "They're one hundred per cent fucking." 

"You're such an idiot," Sammy giggled, "we're currently closer than that and we're not having sex." 

"No, but you're you and I'm me. We're best friends, no one thinks we're dating. They're just shocked you let me touch you." 

"I let people touch me all the time," Sammy frowned, picking his head off Ollie's shoulder and tilting his head in confusion. 

"Sammy it took weeks before you let me hug you," Ollie responded, "and you still won't let Jase hug you. Every time he tries you step away and get all awkward."

Sammy jokingly glared, scrunching his nose up at Ollie. "Okay, you may have a point. It's not that I don't like contact, I just don't like not expecting it."

"Makes complete sense, squid," Ollie soothed, noticing that Sammy was getting a little bit twitchy about the situation. "You don't have to let anyone touch you if you don't want to. It's your choice and no one is allowed to tell you otherwise."

"Thank you, Olster," Sammy spoke, curling up into Ollie's side again, "love you."

\--

"Who's the kid?" Bilbo asked, nudging Jase and pointing to a small blonde who was curling up against Ollie Pope. "He looks sad." 

"That's Sammy," Jase explained, smiling softly when he saw the fond look in Bilbo's eyes. "He's very socially awkward and he's a bit iffy about contact sometimes." 

"Bad past or touch-starved?" Bilbo asked, watching as the two boys looked over at them before the blond broke out in the most adorable giggles which echoed around the ground. 

"It's complicated I think," Jase answered, "I'll get his brother to explain. TC!" At Jason's shout, Tom spun around jogging over to the couple and smiling brightly. "Bilbo's worried about Sammy not liking touch." 

"He's been like that since dad died," TC explained, "mum tried her hardest with me and Ben but she just didn't know how to handle Sam and sort of just gave up. I don't think she's given him a hug since the funeral. It was tough on us all and by the time we realised he needed a hug, he'd started flinching away from us all." 

"He seems close with Ollie though," Bilbo pointed out. 

"Ollie's been a weird situation," Tom looked over at his baby-brother with a warm smile, "he's soft and calm and he let Sammy warm up to him. He's never judged him or tried to force him into a hug or anything." 

"I imagine a team full of lads that want to celebrate after a wicket isn't the most helpful thing?" Bilbo hypothesised still watching the two lads as Sammy curled up closer to Ollie's side. 

"We try," Jason excused, "but sometimes we all forget. Ollie's always there to pull him away though. He's been good for him. I've seen Sammy open up more in the past six months with Ollie here than in the year and a half beforehand." 

"Hit the nail on the head, Jase," Tom spoke, "Sammy's never been the most social kid. He tended to prefer sitting in the corner by himself instead of playing with the other kids but for some reason, Ollie just fully brings him out of his shell. It's good, Sammy deserves some good in his life." 

\--

"Ollie," Ben Foakes called out, "you're with me for keeping training." Ollie smiled at Sammy who was sleepily cuddled in his arms and brushed his hair out of his face. 

"I need to go, munchkin," Ollie cooed, attempting to shift Sammy off him gently but just proceeding to push him onto the floor. Sammy whined, not liking the lack of contact and blinked sleepily at the ginger in annoyance. "Sorry Sammy, I need to train." 

"I can stay with him," a voice spoke from above them. The two teenagers looked up to see Sam Billings standing over them. Ollie watched as Bilbo sat in front of Sammy looking at him with a soft smile before standing and running over to Foakes. 

Sammy watched the keeper with a nervous expression, shifting uncomfortably as if he was ready to run away at any moment. "Don't worry," Bilbo soothed, "TC and Jase explained that you didn't like contact and that's perfectly okay. It's your prerogative." 

"That's what Ollie always says," Sammy responded, his voice quiet and soft. "It's not that I don't like hugs but I never really know when to expect them. That's why I like Ollie, he doesn't hug me until I ask." 

"He seems like a good kid," Bilbo's voice was soft, "and he's a wicket-keeper so he's immediately better than everyone else." Sammy giggled loudly causing Bilbo's heart to melt, he would willingly spend the rest of his life making Sam Curran laugh.

"He's the best," Sammy agreed, shifting slightly closer to Bilbo. "I know I can trust him and he'd never tease me." 

"You can trust me as well, I promise. Whatever makes you feel comfortable, I'll do it." 

Sammy tilted his head, studying Bilbo's expression. Bilbo kept his face open, showing truth and fondness. After a few moments, Sammy smiled and nodded reaching across to brush a hand along Bilbo's side. 

"I trust you, not sure why but I trust you." 

"My mama always said I had one of those faces," Bilbo responded, "how come I've never seen you at the Surrey nights out?" 

"I don't drink and large groups of people don't always get along with me very well," Sammy answered, blushing brightly as he averted his eyes. "Are you and Jason dating?" Sammy blurted out before his eyes grew wide and he started stuttering out apologies. 

"Don't stress, Sammy," Bilbo cooed, "you can ask whatever questions you want. We are together, we've been dating for five years since I started playing for Kent and we met." 

"Please don't tell Ollie," Sammy begged, "he keeps telling me everyone who so much as talks to each other are dating and if he finds out he's been right about you two he'll think he's right about everyone else."

"I hate to tell you but he probably is," Bilbo admitted, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly, "pretty much everyone in the England ODI squad is dating someone else in the England squad. Except for Pudsy."

"I'm never going to hear the end of this, am I?" 

"Probably not," Bilbo soothed, stretching his arms and catching Sammy staring at him wistfully. "You alright, squirt?" 

"Can I have a hug?" Sammy asked, voice so quiet and soft that Bilbo had to strain to hear him, "you can always say no." 

"Of course you can have a hug." Bilbo opened his arms allowing Sammy to burrow into his hold, burying his head in Bilbo's neck. Bilbo ran a hand down Sammy's spine, cooing softly when he felt the young cricketers shoulders shake with the force of his tears. 

Bilbo looked up to see Jase, TC, and most of the Surrey players watching him in shock. He'd literally been sitting with the young blond for ten minutes and he was already allowed to hug him. They'd been playing with him for two years and had only recently been allowed to give him a high-five when he got a wicket. 

"I've got you, bubba, I've got you." 

* * * * * 

"Son of a bitch," Sammy shouted, throwing the ball to the ground angrily. He'd been trying to train for hours but every time he went to bowl his ankle would throb and he had to pull out. 

"What's wrong, Bubba?" Bilbo cooed, pulling Sammy in for a hug and running his hand soothingly through his hair. 

"My ankle is playing up, keeps fucking failing when I try and train." 

"Watch your language, Sam," Bilbo warned, his face stern as he stared down at Sammy. He could excuse any foul language in a game but currently, there was no need. 

"Sorry mama," Sammy muttered before blushing and pulling out of Bilbo's hold. As he moved away, his ankle failed again and he fell to the floor, wrapping his arms around his legs and crying. 

"Calm down, Sammy," Bilbo urged as Sammy's breathing picked up. "I don't mind, Bobble, I don't mind. I'm not going to tease you or laugh at you. You can call me whatever you want." Bilbo had been shocked at the word but Sammy would curl into himself completely, lowering his walls the second he thought Bilbo was angry at him. 

"My ankle," Sammy sobbed, unfurling himself and launching into Bilbo's waiting arms, crying into his neck. 

"Let's get you to the physio, Bubba," Bilbo suggested, "I'm sure he can fix it." Bilbo picked Sammy up carefully, carrying him bridal style into the building. 

\--

Sammy limped up to his doorstep, Bilbo on his right supporting some of his weight. "Thank you, mama," Sammy muttered, pressing a soft kiss to Bilbo's cheek before rushing inside. Bilbo smiled happily, pulling out his phone and texting Jason. 

**14:17 Bear**

_I have adopted a child._

**14:18 Lion**

_What are you on about? We don't have space for a child._

**14:18 Bear**

_Sammy called me mama. I have adopted him and I will not return him._

**14:18 Lion**

_Well, congrats then mama. It's a boy, I guess._

**14:19 Bear**

_I love that you're not even surprised by this happening._

**14:20 Lion**

_The England vice-captain calls the captain Dad and the grumpiest fast-bowler papa. We live together as a happy family. Nothing shocks me anymore._

**14:20 Bear**

_Bet._

_Sammy let me carry him today._

**14:21 Lion**

_I stand corrected. I am shocked. Tell me all about it when you come home?_

**14:22 Bear**

_I'm on my way back. I'll see you in like twenty minutes and I'll explain then._

**14:23 Lion**

_Can't wait._

* * * * * 

It was two years later, Sammy was curled up with Bessie on the hammock in their garden. His head resting on Dom's chest so he could his heart thumping while Bessie ran a hand up and down his spine. 

The extended family had been invited over for a barbeque and the sun shone down on them while they drank beers and chatted. TC and Jof walked into the garden, holding hands and smiling lazily, the blond pressed a kiss to Jof's lips before heading over to Bilbo who was watching the two babies cuddling with a fond smile on his lips. 

"I want to thank you for that," TC spoke as he approached causing Bilbo to turn around with a confused expression. 

"Thank me for what?" Bilbo asked, quickly turning his gaze back to his baby. 

"Two years ago Sammy would have never allowed anyone to get that close to him. You've made him feel safe and protected and he has flourished. He's happier than I have ever seen him," Tom explained. 

"It was all Ollie," Bilbo was bashful, blushing and smiling softly. 

"Nah," TC denied, "Sammy let Ollie hug him, sure, but he let you love him and he didn't let anyone other than dad do that. Dad was his support system throughout his childhood and when he went Sammy shut down. You helped him more than you'll ever realise." 

"I love him, it's my job," Bilbo brushed it off, "if he is happy and healthy then I've succeeded." 

"I was nervous about letting him live here," Tom revealed, "he only had me and Ben for so long and I wasn't sure if he'd cope with more people but I was wrong. Since being here, he's become the happy little boy he was with dad again. So thank you for looking after my brother, for keeping him safe." 

"It's an honour, Tom. It really is a pleasure to know him." 

"That it is, that it is," Tom agreed, "not much feels better than being loved by that boy. He's so pure and unfiltered with his emotions." 

"Tommy," Jof shouted, smiling over at his boy with a wide grin, beckoning him to come over. 

"One sec," Tom called back, turning to face Bilbo one more time. "Thank you," he repeated before stepping away. 

Bilbo stood in shock for a few moments before heading over to the napping babies and running his hand through Sammy's hair softly. "Are you alright, bobble?" He asked as Sammy blearily opened his eyes. 

"I'm happy, mama," Sammy responded, his eyes fluttering closed again as he cuddled closer to Bessie. 

"I love you, bubba," Bilbo breathed out, leaning down to press a kiss to Sammy's forehead, a soft smile on his lips.


End file.
